CAD Forum

Hello to everyone,
The drawings come from customers as a step file, and I have to convert each step file to sheetmetal. Most of the time, SW fails or cannot translate properly. I have to redraw it, a huge waste of time for me. Is there a macro on this topic or can a macro be made?
I am waiting for your opinion on this topic.
(a bit of an assertive idea, so convert better than SW)
Thank you.

Hi Ömür,

I'm sure there are others which have sheetmetal conversion backgrounds or maybe some guru like Artem may have some thoughts on this?
Personally, I've address this by selecting contiguous faces, cleanup any odd boundaries/edges and adding the correct fillets and thicken.

zxys001 wrote: ↑Wed May 12, 2021 10:27 am Hi Ömür,

I'm sure there are others which have sheetmetal conversion backgrounds or maybe some guru like Artem may have some thoughts on this?
Personally, I've address this by selecting contiguous faces, cleanup any odd boundaries/edges and adding the correct fillets and thicken.

yes I try too many methods, one of them is in the method you mentioned. I often have problems with step files that cannot be considered from SW. (creo, inv.unix ...)
Thank you anyway. I hope Artem sees this thread.

Sheetmetal is tricky. Too many things can go wrong.
Why do you need to convert to sheetmetal?
You need to make changes, redesign?
Just to get flat pattern?

I'm sure macro can be made. But what kind of issues you've seen when using convert to sheet metal feature?

It sounds like you are saying that (for certain parts anyway) none of the manual methods you can do will successfully make the imported part into sheet metal. If you cannot manually do it with the regular SW user interface, then it most likely cannot be done with a macro. It may be possible that a macro could automate and/or assist some of the re-drawing steps based on some analysis of the existing model.

I am so sorry for the late reply.

@gupta9665
@Frederick_Law
@josh

I need to convert the step files to a sheet metal file
Why is that?
To make a design change. (Redrawing is risky and time consuming. Most of the time I have to do it with autocad. Tough and risky!)
To adjust the K factor according to the company's standards. (now I'm straightening and doing the bend extensions with autocad)
To straighten. (I am straightening now without adjusting the bend elongation, but adjusting the bend elongation of complex shapes with autocad is both risky and very challenging.)

the customer sends a model and often asks for changes.
I need to make a design change. for customer request.
I need to make a design change. in order to comply with our company's production methods. (k factor ... etc)

If "Insert Bends" doesn't work on the imported sheet metal file (often because other CAD systems don't require any relief in bend areas, whereas SOLIDWORKS does -- even with 'rips'), you could try to use the "Convert To Sheet Metal" tool instead. It just so happens that I recently made a video showing this technique, as well as using Move Face to relocate bends on imported parts; maybe it will be helpful.

gupta9665 wrote: ↑Sat May 15, 2021 6:02 am I'm sure macro can be made. But what kind of issues you've seen when using convert to sheet metal feature?

mostly does not recognize surfaces that should be fixed.
I've tried many methods over and over.
what have i done
a simple example; (exists in many different ways)
There are different shaped holes on a rectangular tray. does not consider any surface as a fixed surface. I close all the holes, only the tray shape remains, I convert it to the parasolite format and try to convert it to sheet metal again. result failed.
I've tried too many methods with many and different shapes of parts, but it does not recognize the surfaces that need to be fixed. but sometimes he can recognize parts of very silly shapes.

Attach file.

Jeff Setzer wrote: ↑Fri May 21, 2021 10:10 am If "Insert Bends" doesn't work on the imported sheet metal file (often because other CAD systems don't require any relief in bend areas, whereas SOLIDWORKS does -- even with 'rips'), you could try to use the "Convert To Sheet Metal" tool instead. It just so happens that I recently made a video showing this technique, as well as using Move Face to relocate bends on imported parts; maybe it will be helpful.

yes i tried this method.
how;
surface offset
give thickness
convert to parasolid
Convert parasolid file to sheet metal (feature recognition)
does not recognize the fixed surface.

another method.
Insert Bends (but the radius cannot be changed)
and an example file thickness should be 0.8mm. now 0.84mm
For those who just want to try a part.
Not forgetting, the error type is not just the fixed surface error, I am getting a few types of errors.
one of those simple parts, I can't upload others.
I clean (cut or straighten any edges that might be a problem.

The PEM and vent will not convert. The 4 side will.
And they did.

Frederick_Law wrote: ↑Fri May 21, 2021 10:52 am The PEM and vent will not convert. The 4 side will.
And they did.

yes I know I mentioned it, I can flatten it, but can you try making 0.8 in radius.

The 45 deg corner cut screw up SW.
The 45 cut is a "cheat" for manufacturing.
I believe you can work that out.

I will try tomorrow, thanks

Long weekend here. Back on Tue.

It's easy to convert to sheet metal and make edits, even if it's an imported part. If you're using Solid Edge synchronous.

matt wrote: ↑Fri May 21, 2021 1:00 pm It's easy to convert to sheet metal and make edits, even if it's an imported part. If you're using Solid Edge synchronous.

matt wrote: ↑Fri May 21, 2021 1:00 pm It's easy to convert to sheet metal and make edits, even if it's an imported part. If you're using Solid Edge synchronous.

i was jealous......
this is an amazing thing. but we are using SW.
Some of our customers use Solid Edge.